Inhalator facepiece



Oct. 10, 1939. G. 1.. WINDER INBALATOR FAGEPIECE Filed Sept. 4, 1957 NZ/EHZZR 01 2 E L'- Patented Oct. 10, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OEFli'ZE INHALATOR FACEPIECE Application September 5 Claims.

This invention relates to inhalators and particularly to inhalator face pieces used in administering gaseous anaesthetics to patients, and for analogous purposes, and has for its chief objects the provision of a simple, economical, comfortable and efficient face piece adapted to be placed over a patients mouth and nose, provision for efficient sealing of the face piece with contiguous facial areas with minimum pressure upon the patients face, provision of a thoroughly sanitary construction capable of easy repeated cleaning, and the provision of exceedingly simple and economical structures in inhalator face pieces and particularly in face-contacting members for such face-pieces.

The manner in which these and other objects of the invention are attained will appear from the following description of the invention as exemplified by a preferred embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawing, of which Fig. l is a side elevation showing the manner in which the inhalator face-piece of the present invention is ordinarily used;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of an inhalator facepiece embodying the present invention in a preferred form; the structure being partially broken away for clarity of illustration;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

The preferred inhalator face-piece shown in the drawing comprises a thin-metal cup having an ovate annular wall If! slightly flared outwardly from a planar bottom I l and terminating in a contoured edge designed generally to fit the facial areas encircling the nose and mouth of a patient. The bottom H of the cup is centrally apertured and provided with a threaded boss l2 to receive a hose connector I3 serving to attach an anaesthesia hose !4 to the inhalator. Snugly fitted within the metal cup is provided a facecontacting member generally designated l5, which is formed of a suitable flexible material such as rubber.

The face-contacting member l5 comprises an ovate tubuar body of double-walled hollow construction throughout formed with a tapered tubuar shank l6 adapted to fit snugly within the flared annular wall ill of the metal cup and to provide a gas-tight seal with the wall. The face-contacting edge of the rubber member I5 is contoured as shown generally following the edge contours of the metal wall ID to fit the facial area encircling a patients nose and mouth, and is 4, 1937, Serial No. 162,486

provided with an outwardly projecting hollow roll or cushion Ii, which gradually decreases in size along the nose-contacting portion of the edge and practically disappears at the peak l8 of the nose-contacting slot. The walls of the cushion ll are integral continuations of the double walls of the tubular shank l6 and all the rubber walls preferably are formed with a thickness sufficient to impart substantial rigidity to the face-piece but yet to retain sufficient fiexibility to permit easy flexure of the cushion walls under minimum pressure for sealing with the contiguous facial areas of a patient. A wall thickness in the cushion, and also in the tubular shank walls which preferably although not necessarily have the same thickness, of from to has been found to be highly satisfactory although considerable variation in the wall thickness is of course permissible Without sacrificing the valuable features of the present invention. The double-walled structure of the face-contacting member is sealed and contains air entrapped at substantially atmospheric pressure.

When an inhalator face-piece of the type described is placed over a patients nose and mouth as shown in Fig. 1, and is lightly but firmly pressed in contact with the contiguous facial areas, the flexible resilient cushion ll readily deforms and accommodates itself to irregularities in the facial contours while the entrapped air imparts added resilience and cushioning so that an unusually effective seal is obtained without applying undue pressure while the face-piece is held in place, thereby obtaining satisfactory sealing without discomfort to the patient which usually has accompanied use of prior face pieces. The gaseous anaesthetic is of course then admitted to the patient through the supply hose M in the customary manner. After administration of the anaesthetic, the rubber face-contacting member l5 may be simply removed from the metal cup and subjected to cleansing and sterilizing treatments which are assuredly effective as there are no exposed recesses or diflicultly accessible areas in the rubber member to harbour dirt and germs.

While the present invention is not limited to any particular method of making the rubber member used in the inhalator face-piece, this 1 member conveniently and preferably may be made by applying a coating of a suitably compounded liquid rubber latex to a deposition form having the shape of the hollow cavity in the member, solidifying the latex on the form to produce a deposit of latex rubber, slitting the deposit around the narrow annular edge, removing the form through the slit, and then sealing the slit, followed by the usual finishing operation of vulcanizing the rubber.

The extremely simple and inexpensive structure of the device described, the eiiective sealing, even under slight pressures, of the resilient roll cushion attained through the resilience of the rubber walls augmented by the entrapped air, the absence of recesses, and the other features described, combine to attain to a high degree the objects set forth.

Numerous modifications and variations in the invention as herein described may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An inhalator face-piece comprising, in combination, a rigid shell and a flexible case-contacting member detachably associated in sealing engagement with the shell, said face-contacting member being a unitary body formed of flexible, resilient material and comprising a shank portion of substantial extent adapted frictionally to engage the walls of the shell and a cushioning portion adapted to engage the face of a patient, said face-contacting member having a single internal closed cavity substantially oo-extensive with the body throughout the shank and the roll.

2. A face-contacting member adapted to be associated with a shell to provide an inhalator face-piece, said face-contacting member being a one-piece, unitary body of flexible, resilient material and comprising a shank portion and a cushioning portion, said body having a single, internal closed cavity of generally the same extent and configuration as the body itself.

3. A face-contacting member adapted to be removably mounted in a cup-like structure in snug relation to the inner wall of said structure, to provide an inhalator face-piece, said facecontacting member comprising a double-Walled tubular shank of resilient, rubber-like material adapted to fit within said structure against the inner face thereof, and a hollow cushioning roll of resilient, rubber-like material integral with said shank, the space between the double walls of the shank and within the hollow cushioning roll constituting a single closed fluid-containing cavity.

4. An inhalator face-piece comprising, in combination, a rigid, cup-shaped shell of substantial depth consisting of a bottom having an aperture therein and a slightly flared annular side-wall terminating in an edge contoured to conform generally to the facial areas about the nose and mouth of a patient, means for connecting a conduit to the said bottom for supplying gaseous material to the interior of the shell through the said aperture, and a face-contacting member detachably associated in sealing engagement with the shell, said face-contacting member being a one-piece, integral body formed of flexible, resilient material and comprising a tapered tubular shank substantially co-extensive with the annular wall of the shell and a cushioning roll projecting beyond but generally following the contoured edge of the shell, said tapered tubular shank being fitted snugly in a wedge-like manner within the flared annular wall of the shell and constituting the sole means of engagement of the face-contacting member with the shell, said body having an internal closed cavity substantially co-extensive with the body throughout the shank and the cushioning roll.

5. An inhalator face-piece comprising, in com bination, a rigid, cup-shaped shell having a slightly flared annular sidewall, means for supplying gaseous material to the interior of said shell, and a face-contacting member detachably associated in sealing engagement with the shell, said face-contacting member being a body formed of flexible, resilient material and comprising a slightly tapered tubular shank fitted snugly in a wedge-like manner within the flared annular wall of the shell and a cushioning roll projecting beyond an edge of the shell, said body having an internal closed cavity substantially co-extensive with the body throughout the shank and the cushioning roll.

GEORGE L. -WINDER.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION. Patent/N0. 2,175,715. October 10, 1959.

"GEORGE L. WINDER.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above nnmbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 1, first column, lines 1;? andh9, for "tubuar" read tubular; and secondcolumn, line L 6, for "harbour" read harbor; page 2, first column, line 20-21, claim 1, for't'"case-contacting" read face-contacting; line 58, claim 2, after "internal" insert a comma; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that, the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office. I

Signed and sealed this 16th day of Januaryyli. D. l9J O.

\ Henry Van Arsdale, I (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents, 

